CLASSIC DIVING BOOKS - 19th Century titles.

CLASSIC DIVE BOOKS

19th Century - and some very early 20th century.

Please note: The books are listed for interest only, and not offered for sale.

HOMEPAGE

Many of these books may not be classics in their own right, yet they are eminently collectable if for no other reason than their wonderful embosed covers and woodcut illustrations. The English is often 'quaint' and a delight to read, and they serve as a historic record of contemporary events as well as an indication of what was known of the marine world at the time. And besides all that, they are great to hold and feel and smell.

See also pre-19th century documents.

Click image to enlarge.

A NARRATIVE OF THE OPERATIONS FOR THE RECOVERY OF THE PUBLIC STORES AND TREASURE SUNK IN H.M.S. THETIS, AT CAPE FRIO, ON THE COAST OF BRAZIL, ON THE 5TH DECEMBER 1830 TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF THE LOSS OF THAT SHIP.
By Captain Thomas Dickinsdon, R.N.
At that time Commanding H.M.Sloop Lightning, employed in effecting the above salvage.
LONDON
LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN AND LONGMAN.
M.D.CCC.XXXVI (1886)
The complete book is published on Google books. Search for 'dickinson thetis'.
Thankyou [ab]

A NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGES ROUND THE WORLD PRFORMED BY CAPTAIN JAMES COOK WITH AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE, DURING THE PREVIOUS AND INTERVENING PERIODS.
With twelve illustrations reproduced in exact facsimile. from drawings made during the voyages.
A.Kippis.
Published in 1878 by Bickers and Son, London.
Hardcover, gilt embossed boards, gild-edged, 410 pages, superb mono drawings, 18 pages of book advertisements, edges gold tipped.
The embossing on the front cover is includes the title and author's name, plus a full length image of Cook, and a portrait of a native with ear-ring and feather adornmeent. The spine shows an embosssed engraving of a full-rigged sailing ship.
Long regarded as the definitive work on the great explorer and navigator, its heavy work to read but to persevere will lead to great satisfaaction and a wonderful knowledge of this great man. Chapters : Account of Captain Cook previous to his First Voage; First Voyage 1768-1771; Account of Cook betwen Firsat and Second Voyages; Second Voyage 1772-1775; Account of Cook betwen Second and Third Voyages; Narrative of Third Voyage, 1776-1779, to his death; Character of Captain Cook, Effects of his Voyages, Testimonies.
I love to hold this book, to smell is grandeur, to admire its superb workmanship typical of a the great bookbinding craft of its day. Its tough to wade through as Kippis tells it strait with no embellisshment nor opinion, but for the scholar of Cook, it is a must. [ps]

A BOOK ABOUT TRAVELLING - PAST AND PRESENT
The Sedan Chair. The Stage Coach. The Canal. The Steamer. The Railway.
Compiled and edited by Thomas A. Croal.
William P. Nimmo, London and Edinburgh, 1877.
Hardcover, gold and black embossed on brown cloth boards; 606 pages plus 16 pages of book advertisementsa few mono drawings. The section on The Steamercovers four chapters, over 108 pages. It covers the usual history of the early paddle steamers and ocean steamers, and ‘the Pleasures and Dangers of Steam Navigation'. There is very little on sail. This is one of those books that gives great pleasure in holding it and smelling its age. The boards are thick and strong - there is a great feel to the book The text would be of interest to the student of social archaeology with respect to travelling, even though it is a rather ‘dry' book to read. [ps]

BIBLIOTHEQUE DE LA NATURE, LA VIE AU FOND DES MERS
Illustrations By: A.L. Clement, Dietrich, Poyet, Libraire de L'Academie de Medecine, Paris, (1885)
Hardcover, 302 pages., in French.
Crustacean Sea Creatures, different fishes, and all underwater creatures, 96 interesting illustrations, 4
coloured illustrations (lithography), 8 Plans.
Book Size: 24.5 x 16 cm.(9.7 x 6.3 in.).

Image at left is one of the colour plates.
[ps]

BY SEASHORE WOOD AND MOORLAND
Subtitle: Peeps at Nature
Edward Step
Illustrated by: Harrison Weir, W Rainey, R Kretschmer, F Giacomelli and Theo Carreras.
Published by: S W Partridge and Co, London c1896 (Date estimated from inscription)
Hard decorated covers; 320 printed pages. Dimensions: 19 cms tall by 13 cms wide
This lovely Victorian book is very well illustrated with 145 prints, many of which are full page. It is split into 6 parts: "By the Sea", "In Woods At Home", "In Woods Abroad", "In Field and Lane", "The Moorland" and "By Pond and Stream", in turn, each part is broken down into chapters. The first part about the sea is by far the largest section of the book, covering some 110 pages, 13 chapters: "Jelly Fishes", "Sea Anemonies", "Nellie's Star Fish", "The Sea Urchin", "Ship Worms", "Peter the Cockle Gatherer", "Cuttle Fishes", "Barnacles", "A Chat About Crabs", "Queer Fish", "Some Sea Birds", "The Dead Cormorant" and "Mermaids and Sea Cows". [pt]

CONQUEST OF THE SEA. A book about Divers and Diving
Henry Siebe.

In February 2016 the book shown was sold on eBay. Details:
On offer here is a leather bound hardback book titled
THE CONQUEST OF THE SEA , a book about Divers and Diving by Henry Siebe
published by Chatto and Windus, London. No date but 1873 from preface. Edinburgh Collegiate School Charlotte Square gilt embossed emblem on front board.
Measuring 6 3/4 by 5 inches with 299 ppp. The embossed letter boards with gilt lines and school badge. Front board bowing, with 3/4 inch tear to bottom of spine hinge. Wear to the spine edges and top of boards but generally good condition. Internally, removed bookplate from front pastedown, some spotting to front few, and last couple of pages text block generally clean and bright. A truly fascinating scarce Victorian book on Divers and Diving
CONTENTS
Mans natural and unaided efforts
The Great importance of submarine topography
Progress of invention
Apparatus used in Diving- Instructions Methods of working signals to be used
Useful works performed by means of modern machinery
Old divers and their yarns
Recapitulation

.Enter on image to expand.

Also................

British collector AD advises that he has a copy of this books published by George Routledge and Sons, 416 Broome Street, New York, and printed by Stevens and Richardson, Printers,5 Great Queen Street Lincoln's Inn Fields,W.C.
The collector bought this copy from a dealer in the USA and believes it is a cheaper version that the Chatto and Windus edition. The collector also advises that he has seen three other copies of the Chaddo and Windus edition in three different coloured decorative boards.
The George Rutledge/Stevens and Richardson edition has a total of 299 pages' the preface indicates it was published in London, December,1783.
{This should read 1883. Augustus Siebe was born in 1788. His son Henri was born in 1832 - I think)

The following images are from the Stevens and Richardson copy:
..

DENIZENS OF THE DEEP.
An Account of Fishes, Molluscs, Crustacea &c.
From "the Sea And Its Living Wonders".
Dr.G.Hartwig.
Published in 1887, by Longmans, Green and Co, London.
Hardcover, embossed boards, 160 pages, 117 illustrations.
Not an important marine biology text by today's standards, but still a pleasant and valuable book, more by virtue of age than anything else.
[ps]

GREAT WORKS BY GREAT MEN
Subtitle: The Story of Famous Engineers and Their Triumphs.
F. M. Holmes.

Published by: S W Partridge, London in 1890. Hard illustrated covers; 320 printed pages.
Dimensions: 19 cms tall by 12.5 cms wide.
A Victorian book with illustrated binding that is interesting to read as well as look good on the bookshelf. This is the second impression of this book and as far as I know is the only binding showing a helmet diver on the spine. Although not entirely diving related, the book is divided into 11 sections and in turn, each section is sub-divided: “The Story of the Locomotive”, “The Story of the Steamship”, “Famous Bridges and Their Builders”, “Remarkable Tunnels and Their Constructors”, “Stories of Lighthouses and their Builders”, “Walls in the Sea, Harbours and Breakwaters and their Construction”, “Working Underwater or Diving in Bells and Dresses”, “Inland Waterways – The Cutting of Canals”, “The Story of the Steam Hammer”, “Improving Machine Tools – Henry Maudslay and the Slide-Rest” and “Some Wonders of Waterpower – A Glance at Hydraulic Engineering”.
The section on diving has only two further chapters: “between Water and Air” and “In Watertight Suit – Some Adventures of Divers” and consists of some 17 pages with5 block prints of various divers and diving bells (one print is full page showing two divers in Raquayol & Denayrouse equipment. Extremely well illustrated throughout and would grace any dive book collection. [pt]

CELEBRATED MECHANICS AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS
by F M Holmes
Published by: S W Partridge, London c1896: (from an inscription in book)
Hard illustrated covers; 160 printed pages. Dimensions: 19 cms tall by 12.5 cms wide.
This is a condensed version of a book by the same author of a much larger book called “Great Works by Great Men” which was published in 1890. This edition once again has lovely illustrated covers with four men operating a steam hammer on the front with a lighthouse on the spine. It is divided into less sections than the original version: : “Stories of Lighthouses and their Builders”, “Walls in the Sea, Harbours and Breakwaters and their Construction”, “Working Underwater or Diving in Bells and Dresses”, “Inland Waterways – The Cutting of Canals”, “The Story of the Steam Hammer” and “Some Wonders of Waterpower – A Glance at Hydraulic Engineering”. The section on diving has only two further chapters: “Between Water and Air” and “In Watertight Suit – Some Adventures of Divers” and consists of some 15 pages with 4 block prints of various divers and diving bells plus the frontice which is a full page showing two divers in Raquayol & Denayrouse equipment. [pt]

52 HOLIDAY STORIES FOR BOYS
Edited by: Alfred H Miles

Contains various short stories from many different authors
Published by: Hutchinson & Co, London in 1898.
Hard illustrated covers – 456 printed pages
Dimensions: 20 cms tall by 13 cms.
This juvenile book would grace any diving book collectors shelf as not only is there a nice print of a diver on the spine but also one on the cover. As the book title says, it contains 52 short stories by various authors including such people as G A Henty, it is divided into stories within major headers: “Under Fire”, “In Woods and Wilds”, “At Sea”, “Out West” and “In Fun”. Included under the section headed “At Sea” are 12 short stories, including a 24 page short story called “Fathoms Deep” by Geo. Manville Fenn. Throughout the book is illustrated with full page block prints, the diving story included. [pt]

LE FOND DE LA MER.
Louis Sonrel.
Printed in 1880
About all under the sea, diving helmet, diving, diver who work under the sea, etc …
There are 93 different print, with for example Rouquayrol - Denayrouse.
305 pages.
Image on left is from the book.
[ps]

LIGHTHOUSES AND LIGHTSHIPS.
A Descriptive and Historical Account of Their Mode of Construction and Organization.
W.H.Davenport Adams.
Published in 1875 by T.Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh and New York.
Hardcover, gilt embossed boards, 320 pages, many woodcuts throughout.
In six parts with appendix: Ancient History of Lighthouses, The Science of Lighthouses, Lighthouses of Great Britain, Lighthouses in France, Floating Lights and Lightships, Life in the Lighthouse. The diagrams and operation details of the equipment is fascinating.
[ps]

MEMORABLE SHIPWRECKS AND SEAFARING ADVENTURES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
J.F.Layson.
Published by A.J.Smith, Melbourne. No date, suggest circa 1890s.
Hardcover, 304 pages, full page sepia woodcuts.
Memorable shipwrecks? Some thirty ships are mentioned. The Neva, wrecked on King Island in 1835, rates seven pages.
[ps]

OPPIAN. Halieuticks: The Nature of Fishes and Fishing of the Ancients.
Oxford 1722, 8vo title page vignette, 232p. Full calf binding.
An account of Oppian's life & writings, and a catalogue of his fishes. It contains much fable and absurdity together with considerable zoological knowledge (Westwood and Satchell, p164). Oppian wrote several pieces, The Nature of Fishes, The Nature of Beasts and The Nature of Birds and was considered an eminent naturalist in his time. This first published English translation of this Greek classic was translated from the Greek by Mr John Jones of Balliol College.
Oppian of Corycus (or Anazarbus) in Cilicia, flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. According to an anonymous biographer, his father, having incurred the displeasure of Lucius Verus, a colleague of Marcus Aurelius, by neglecting to pay his respects to him when he visited the town, was banished to Malta. Oppian, who had accompanied his father into exile, returned after the death of Verus (169) and went on a visit to Rome. Here he presented his poems to Marcus Aurelius, who was so pleased with them that he gave the author a piece of gold for each line, took him into favor and pardoned his father. Oppian subsequently returned to his native country, but died of the plague shortly afterwards, at the early age of thirty. His contemporaries erected a statue in his honor, with an inscription which is still extant, containing a lament for his premature death and a eulogy of his precocious genius. His poem on fishing (Halieutica), of about 3500 lines, dedicated to Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, is still extant.
[Detail kindly provided by Gordon Graham at Antiquarian Angler. Gordon has (had) a copy of this remarkable book available for AUD$1200.)

PICTORIAL CHRONICLES OF THE MIGHTY DEEP.
The Sea, Its Ships and Sailors.
No author, nor editor losted.
Published by James Sangster & Co, London. No date but suspect about the 1880s.
Hardcover, beautiful embossed cover, 514 gilt-edged pages, mono wood engravings and eight superb colour drawings. Over 120 chapters on ancient and 'modern' voyages' and the (predominantly) men who made them - although Cleopatra is mentioned. The voyage of Pelsart's Batavia and the subsequent massacre in the Abrolhos islands rates ten pages, and two rather fanciful woodcuts of the loss of the ship. A great book to browse.
Also listed under classification 'The Sea'. [ps]

THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
L Sonrel.
Translated and edited by: Elihu Rich

Published by: Charles Scribner and Co, New York in 1870.
Hard covers, no dustjacket; 402 printed pages
Dimensions: 18 cms tall by 12 cms wide
This book in English is translated from a French book, originally published in 1868. According to the translators preface, it is intended as a general and instructive outline of facts concerning the sea, being divided up into 10 sections: “Submarine Orography”, “The Water of the Ocean”, “Deposits in Course of Formation at the Bottoms of the Seas”, “Submarine Life”, “Man and His Work at the Bottom of the Sea”, “Changes in Progress at the Bottoms of Seas – Their Universality”, “Sudden Movements of the Submarine Soil”, “Gradual Changes of the Bottom of the Sea”, “Action of Rivers and Currents on the Bottom of the Sea” and “Influence of Life on Variations in the Bed of the Ocean”. In turn, each section is broken down into further chapters. The section about “Man and His Work” is broken down into 11 chapters and contains details of diving, especially the Rouquayrol & Denayrouze equipment. Throughout, the book is illustrated with block prints, many of divers in the appropriate section. [pt-text above), [ps]

THE BROAD BROAD OCEAN
William Jones, FSA
Published by: Frederick Warn and Co, London, UK in 1871

Victorian decorated covers; 420 printed pages
Dimensions: 18.5 cms tall by 13 cms wide.
This large Victorian book covers all aspects of the sea, including a section about diving. The cover is beautifully embossed with gold leaf and shows an Eskimo in a canoe hunting with a spear and two dolphins on tridents. It is divided into 29 chapters, each covering subjects about the sea:
“The World of Waters”, “The Frozen Ocean”, “Icebergs”< “Seals”< “The Monarch of the Ocean”, “The Whale Fisheries”, “Perils of the Whale Fisheries”, “The Pirate of the Ocean”, “Sea Horses, Narwahls and Polar Bears”, “Minute Animal Life in the Ocean”, “The Rock Builders of the Ocean”, “Perils of the Coral Reef”, “Instinct of the Rock-Builders – Coral Fisheries”, “Pearls”, “The Vegitation of the Ocean”, “Sponges”, “Shells”, “Submarine Scenery”, “The Floating Navigators of the Ocean”, “Phenomena of the Ocean- Atmospheric Influences”, “Superstitions Connected With The Ocean”, “Monsters of the Deep – Sea Dragons”, “Marine Prodigies”, “Modes of Fishing in Various Countries”, “Odds and Ends About Fishes”, “Beautiful Fishes”, “Treasures Recovered From the Ocean”, “Sea Birds” and “The Sentinels of the Seas”. Extremely well illustrated throughout with some beautiful prints. [pt].
PS comment: there appears to have also been an 1880 edition of the same book, with a green embossed cover with black decoration. And an 1883 edition with brown embossed cover.

THE CONQUEST OF THE SEA
Subtitle: A Book About Divers and Diving
by Henry Siebe
Published by Chatto and Windus, London. First Published 1874.
Hard Cover with 299 printed pages. Dimensions 18.0 cms tall by 12.0 cms wide
Contains very many fine wood engravings, several of which are full page. When published in 1874 by Henry Siebe, this was a very comprehensive history of diving from early times to the year of 1874, possibly the first credible book about diving. Henry Siebe was the son of Agustus Siebe, founder of the company of Siebe Gorman. The book is split into seven chapters:
1 Man’s Natural and Unaided Efforts
2 The Great Importance of Submarine Topography
3 Progress of Invention
4 Apparatus Used in Diving - Instructions - Method of Working – Signals to Be Used
5 Useful Works Performed by Modern Machinery
6 Old Divers and Their Yarns
7 Conclusion
Each chapter is split into many subjects, too many to list. A diverse range of contemporary equipment is explained and listed, not only as supplied by the company of Siebe & Gorman but also by Rouquayrol & Denayrouze and others.
Not the easiest of books to find but a must for any serious diving book collection. [pt]
Note: Is now available an a print-on-demand basis but is not a true copy, only the text which has been reset after pages were scanned into OCR software.

THE CONQUEST OF THE SEA, A BOOK ABOUT DIVERS AND DIVING
Henry Siebe.
OCR scanned copy, reprint, by General Books, 2009.
Softcover, 79 pages, no illustrations. Dimensions 23 x 15 cm. Note: twenty-four of these pages are listings of previous publications by the original publishers, no doubt reproduceed from the original of course.
There is a note at the beginning of the book stateing the fact that this is an OCR scanned book and that this "can result in a lot of typos and missing text .... but we feel it is more important to make the book available for a low price or not at all". I'm not so sure that this is a reasonable philiosphy if this book is an example. There are many errors in the scanning, both in the letters/words and in the paragraph layout. This could have been rather quickly overcome by a manual edit by reading and correcting where required; it is thus rather annoying to read. Again, with further effort, and admittedly cost, any illustrations could have been scanned and included (especially of the excellent wood engravings in the original). The General Books company should have realised that anyone wanting to read this historic diving book would have a very keen interest in diving history and would not mind, I am sure, paying for the priviledge of a good facsimile - ideally a photographic scan of the book pages including the engravings, and a separate edited OCR reading text. This has been superbly achieved by the several mongraph productions produced by the (UK) Historical Diving Society. Henry Siebe deserved better - and so do we. [ps]

THE DIVERS
Hume Nisbet.
Adam and Charles Black (publishers) of London. First published 1892, Second edition 1894, and Third Edition with coloured illustration plates by the author in 1904.
Its not all about 'the divers', despite the title and delightful imprinted cover; the author even dedicates the book as a 'Romance of Oceania' which is a more appropriate title. It is no doubt fiction - a boys yarn. Certainly it reads well and the colour illustrations are delightful. But there is very little on diving and what there is does not indicate any knowledge of the subject by the author. Hard-hat divers do not "plunge to the bottom", unless they have real problems and would not return to tell about it. From the net, I learn that James Hume Nisbet (1849-1923) was an author and artist, born 8 August 1849 at Stirling, Scotland; at 16 he went to Melbourne and found various jobs. About 1868 he spent a year playing small parts at the Theatre Royal. He then wandered around eastern Australia, New Zealand and the South Sea Islands. Commissioned by Cassell & Co., Nisbet visited Australia and New Guinea in 1886. On his return he contributed articles and sketches to Cassell's Picturesque Australasia (1887-89). Living in London in chronic financial difficulty, in 1888 as Hume Nisbet he published the first of some forty-six novels, about half set in Australia and the Pacific. In 1895 he again visited Australia. Nisbet worked within the convention of the popular novel, using at times sensational plots, abounding with Aborigines, 'Kanakas', bushrangers, gold diggers, convicts and squatters. He was often outspoken on social issues, savagely criticizing racial prejudice, social hypocrisy and inequality, although not always consistently.Nisbet's independent views, his awareness of social issues and his willingness to write on unpopular themes give his novels a striking individuality in Australian writing of the 1890s. His ideas made him unpopular in Australia and his humorous and at times effective satire was often missed by reviewers. Embossed hardcover, 400 pages, eight delightful colour plates, several pages of advertisements for other titles in the back of the book. A diving classic? No, not by any means and if it weren't for the cover it would never be listed. [ps]

THE DIVING BELL
(No further details).

THE HISTORY OF THE SEA
Frank. B.Goodrich.
Hubbard Bros, USA; Max Herger & Co., Toronto, Ontario.
Hardcover, embossed boards, 250 ‘spirited' illustrations.
First published in 1858, with the 1880 edition having additional sections written by Edward Howland.
A graphic description of maritime adventures, achievements, explorations, discoveries and inventions, including Hazards and Perils of Early Navigators, Cruelities and Experiences of Noted Buccaneers, Conquests and Prizes of the great Pirates, Discoveries and Achievements of the great Captains, Conflicts with Savages, Cannibals, Robbers, etc, Artic Explorations and attendant sufferings, Growth of commerce, Rise and Progress of Ship Building, Ocean Navigation, Naval Power, etc, etc. Covering the many centuries of development in science and civilization from The Ark to the Present Time.
To which is added: An account of adventures beneath the sea; diving, dredgins, deep sea sounding, latest submarine explorations, etc., etc., prepared with great care by:
Edward Howland, Esq. (author of many popular works). eBay description. [ps]
Also: The History of the Sea
Goodrich Frank B., Howland Edward.
J.W. Lyon & Co., Guelph / Australia. (undated circa 1870s)
Hardcover, 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 785 pp.
From a sales blurb: Graphic description of maritime adventures, achievements, explorations, discoveries and inventions, including hazards and perils of early navigators, cruelties and experiences of noted buccaneers, conquests and prizes of the great pirates, discoveries and achievements of the great captains, conflicts with savages, cannibals, robbers, etc., artic explorations and attendant sufferings, growth of commerce, rise and progress of ship building, ocean navigation, naval power, etc., etc., covering the many centuries of development in science and civilization from the ark to the present time. Over 250 spirited illustrations (wood engravings), gilt edged, beautiful brown full leather covers with gilt embossed decorations and lettering, slight edgewear and scuffing on spine, gutter on rear endpaper damaged. Also included is an account of adventures beneath the sea: diving, dredging, deep sea sounding, latest submarine explorations, etc. prepared with great care by Edward Howland.

THE CRUISE OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIP "CHALLENGER".
Voyages Over Many Seas, Scenes in Many Lands.
W.J.Spry.
(My copy) published 1878 by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle , & Rivington, London.
Indicates 'Seventh And Cheaper Edition'.
Hardcover, gold embossed ship on boards, 320 pages, plus 32 pages of publications by the publisher.
Preface to the Seventh Edition states 'In less than twelve months 'The Cruise of H.M.S.Challenger' has run through six English editions, and has been republished in the United States and Canada, and translated into several continental languages...' Covers a voyage around the world from 1872 to 1876.
[ps]

THE LAST WEEK IN THE LIFE OF DAVIS JOHNSON, JR.
J.D. Wells.
Robert Carter & Brothers, New York, 1861.
Brown Boards, Leather.
From a sales blurb: A rare copy of this curious little book about the diving death of a 20 year old. Inscription and copywright is 1860. Date on title page is 1861.

THE OCEAN AND ITS WONDERS
R.M. Ballantyne.
Published by: T Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh, Scotland in 1876.
Victorian decorated cloth covers, hard cover; 235 printed pages. Dimensions: 17.5 cms by 12 cms wide.
Written by the same author as “Under the Waves – Diving in Deep Waters”, this book deals with many aspects of the sea. It is divided into 16 chapters, each well illustrated with wood block prints, some as large as a full page. Subjects covered include waves, the Gulf Stream, Trade Winds, Waterspouts, Arctic Seas, Icebergs, coral and volcanic islands. [pt]
Robert Michael Ballantyne (1825 –1894) was a Scottish juvenile fiction writer, bornEdinburgh, Scotland, one of a famous family of printers and publishers. At the age of 16 he went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or, Life in the Wilds of North America. For some time he was employed by Messrs Constable, the publishers, but in 1856 he gave up business for the profession of literature, and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated: The Young Fur-Traders (1856), The Coral Island (1857), The World of Ice (1859), Ungava: a Tale of Eskimo Land (1857), The Dog Crusoe (1860), The Lighthouse (1865), Deep Down (1868), The Pirate City (1874), Erling the Bold (1869), The Settler and the Savage (1877), and other books, to the number of upwards of a hundred, followed in regular succession, his rule being in every case to write as far as possible from personal knowledge of the scenes he described.

THE OCEAN WORLD
Being a Description of the Sea, and Its Living Inhabitants.
Louis Figuier.

Illustrated by Four Hundred and twenty-seven Engarvings, Chielffy Designed Under the Direction of M.C. H. Bevalet.
The Chapters on Cochology Revised and Englarged by Charles O. Groom Napier, F.G.S., etc.
Fourth Thousand, English Translation.
Chapman and Hall, Piccadilly, 1869.
Hardcover, 614 pages, index, many engravings as indicated in sub-title.
Nineteen chapters: The Ocean; Currents of the Ocean; Life in the Ocean; Zoophytes; Polypifera; Corallines; Zoanthara; Acalephe; Echinoderma; Mollusca; Pulmonaty Gasteropods; Cephalopodous Mollusca; Crusatceans; Fishes.
What a remarkable book this must have been in its day, no doubt an encyclopedia of current marinelife knowledge of the day and still quite fascinating to read. My copy is so knocked about that it was given t me by a bookbinder/dealer who had declined an attempt to restore it, but that in itself demonstraates its charm and fascination as it has been well and truly read. By how many it would be interesting to know - and by whom. It was obviously an important work. [ps]

THE PEARL DIVERS AND CRUSOES OF THE SARGASSO SEA
Gordon Stables, MD, CM, (Surgeon Royal Navy).
James Nisbet & Co, London. No date listed but 1897. Hardcover, embossed boards, spine embossed with gold, gold on edges, 324 pages, mono and colour prints, advertisements.
This is a novel but based on real characters and experiences - or so the author tells us in the 'A Word to Boy Readers', This also identified the book as for boy readers (should girls have no interest in pearl diving? - they certainly do of the product). The author writes.... "that most of my people or heroes in this story have had their prototypes, and I have tried to paint them from life." The author is not being pretentious. He had a remarable life as a surgeon in the Royal Navy before retiring to write, producing on average four books a year for thirty years. He seems to have been somewhat of a beloved Scot, an adventurer throughout who was no doubt one of the first people to enjoy recreational caravaning in Britain at the time of the late 19th century - in a specially made horsedrawn caravan, which he called 'The Wanderer', he ever dapper in full highland garb, and a dog. Dr. William Gordon Stables was born in Aberchirder, Marnochm Banff (no, that is not a spelling error), in Scotland in 1840, and died 1910. His many books covered a wide range of topics, including health, history, adventure and of course his acclaimed Surgeon in the Royal Navy 1863-1871. Much of his work was directed at ‘boy readers', and yet, if The Pearl Divers is any indication, it is quite of interest to adults. [ps]

THE ROMANCE OF MODERN MECHANISM
With Interesting Descriptions in Non-Technical Language of Wonderful Machinery and Mechanical Devices and Marvellously Delicate Scientific Instruments etc etc.
Archibald Williams.

J.B.Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, London. 1906.
Hardcover, engraved cover and spine in blue with red and gold. 355 pages, mono plates.
Although not strictly 18th century, this wonderful book is worthy of listing here if for no other reason than its beautifully engraved cover, and spine.The latter shows a standard-dress diver on the seabed being attended by two pump-boys on the surface. The book is an excellent read and shows how far we have come in over a century. Of particular interest are two chapters: The Mechanism of Diving; and Raising Sunken Ships. The chapters tell us little more than what most scolars of diving history know, but it is interesting nevertheless. There is jutst the one mono plate, a composite photo of navy tenderss, and a drawing of a diver on the seabed.
If you get a chance to buy this book, make sure that the spine and cover are in pristine condition for that alone is worth the purchase. The image on the cover by the way is that of an early fire engine.
[ps]

THE SEASIDE NATURALIST
"Outdoor Studies in Marine Zoology and Botany, and Maritime Geology".

By the Rev. Robert W. Fraser, M.A.
Published 1868 by Virtue & Co, 26 Ivy Lane, London.
Leather bound, ribbed, 292 pages, line drawings.
My copy has embossed emblem on brown front cover of Ballarat Colledge.Presented as a 2nd Prize for English, Geography and History to J.A.Sharp, Christmas 1870. R.O.McCoy, Principal.A delightful book, with several excellent illutrations. Its value as a marin text is not longer applicable. "And there is, in fact, much that is analogous in the degree of suiccess which has attended human efforts to penetrate the mysteries of the ocan depths, and to investigate those which blong to the inconceivably remote objects of the firmament". (Title page shown on left).
Hardcover, full leather boundwith ribbed spine and gold embossing, marbled endpapers, page edges are marbled; 292 pages, 28 chapters, 37 excellent full page engravings.
This is, so is stated in a preface headed ‘Advertisement', the third edition of a publication previously entitled Seaside Divinity.
The binding (of my copy) is interesting: the cover has a gold embossed border but the rest is plain leather save for the emblem of ‘BALLARAT COLLEGE'. inside, on the front endpaper, is pasted a sheet indicating that this book was seocnd prize for English Georgraphy and History and awarded to a J.A.Sharp, Christmas 1870, with the name of the school principal, R.O. McCoy. The book would have been individually bound with the school emblem.
Once again we have an excellent book with respect to its physical attributes - its binding - but little recommendation to its content with respect to its value today. The goodrevendd states that ‘The study of those branches of Natural History to which this book refers had been the occupation of his leisure for many years, and that the observations which it contaains are the result of his own investigations, adducing also faacts or principles authenticated by the labour of the scientific man, in order to add to the number and variety of these illustrations of the Divine wisdom and goodness which it is the great object of the work on display'. So there you have it. I always like to check out what is written about my favourite sea creature, the octopus, but unfortnately the reverend prefers to devopte a whole chaapter to the cuttlefish and leave us ignorant of the rest of the cephalopods. Oops, he has the cuttlefish with ‘arms, or feet, eight in number, are arranged around the top of the the head, and are covered with a multitude of small circular disks raised above the surface'. Okay, he adds another ‘two long tentacles', so he has the numbers right. [ps]

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THE SHIPWRECK
William Falconer, An English Sailor.
Published in 1800 by James Oram, New York.
Hardcover, 170, 1 pp., frontis. and 3 plates.

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THE MARINER`S CHRONICLE: CONTAINING NARRATIVES OF THE MOST REMARKABLE DISASTERS AT SEA, SUCH AS SHIPWRECKS, STORMS, FIRES AND FAMINES: ALSO NAVAL ENGAGEMENTS, PIRATICAL ADVENTURES... ETC.
Archibald Duncan et al.
Published 1834 by George W. Gorton, New Haven (USA)
Hardcover, 504 pp., frontis., 24 other illustrations on twelve sheets.

THE SEA
Its Stiring Story of Adventure, Peril and Heroism.
F.Whymper.
Published by Cassell Petter & Galpin, London, Paris and New York. No date, circa 1880s.
In four volumes, hardcover, gold embossed board, many excellent woodcuts.
Covers every imaginable story - the Perils of a Sailor's Life, Round the World on a Man-O-War, History of Ships and Shipping Interests - so much, and a delight to read.
Also listed under the classification The Sea. [ps]

THE SEA
Jules Michelet.
Published in 1883 by T.Nelson and Sons, Paternoster Row, Edinburgh and New York.
Hardcover, gold embossed board, 301 pages, 'with seventeen illustrations'.
In four parts; A Survey of the Sea; The Origin of the Sea' The Conquest of the Sea' The Sea as a Regenerator.
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THE SEA AND ITS WONDERS
Mary and Elizabeth Kirby.
A Companion Volume to ‘The World at Home'.
Published in 1871 by T.Nelson and Sons, Edinburgh and New York.
Gold embossed hardcover, 304 gilt-edged pages, many mono woodcuts throughout.
Quite a remarkable book on marine life, mammals, reptiles and island birds, considering its date. The gold engraving on the cover is quite superb, showing amn eskimo (I presume) in a kayak attempting to harpoon a narwhale. A great book.
Hardcover, beautifully gold embossed boards and spine. On the cover is the title in stylised border; in the centre is a fine drawing of an Inue hunter in a kayaak spearing a narwhale. The boards are thick, the page edges gilded. Numerous exquisite line drawings, 304 pages. This is truly a beuatifully produced book - pity the text is a load of garbage. It is childishly written, as if, indeed, it is written for a child. The content is entirely on the natural sciences, of the creatures of the sea. Of course we have gained a great deal of knowledge in the past 140 years, so any criticism needs to be tempered with that in mind. Still,, its a great book in itself, to pick up and feel strength, its solidness, and to sniff its age. Wonderful! [ps]

THE STAR-FISH AND HIS RELATIONS
F M Duncan & L T Duncan
Published by: Henry Frowde Oxford University Press, London c1910.
Hard illustrated cover ; 72 printed pages. Dimensions: 18 cms tall by 12 cms wide.
Published in the "Wonders of the Sea" series, this book looks at various species of sea life in 11 chapters: "The Star Fish", "Young Star Fish, The Spiny Star Fish, The Sun Star, Cushion Star, Sand Stars", "The Brittle Stars, Feathered Stars", "The Sea Urchin", "The Purple Egg Urchin, The Heart Urchins, Pea Urchins", "The Sea Cucumber", "The Great Sea Cucumber, The Cotton Spinner, The Synapts, Young Sea Cucumbers", "Worms of the Sea, The Lug Worm", "The Pearly Nereis, Nereis Worms, The Rock Worm, White Cat Worm", "The Ribbon Worm, The Sea Mouse" and "Tube Building Worms". The book has 32 illustrations, many of which are photographs, some full page and four are full page colour.
The book is one of several in the "Wonders of the Sea" series by the same author. Others are "Wonders of the Shore", "The Lobster and His Relations", "Dwellers in the Rock Pools", "Life in the Deep Sea" and "The Sea Birds". [pt]

THE STORY OF THE SEA.
Edited by Q.
Printed by Cassell and Company, Limited, 1895.
Hardcover, gold embossed boards, 760 pages, woodcuts throughout, and a few photographs.
Who is 'Q' you may well ask. Certainly it is not James Bond's boss.
This is a great book, to browse and read over many a night in front of the fire. Thirty-two chapters cover virtually all the subjects related to the sea - of men and ships, and shipwrecks; marine life; legends and song; war and whaling.

THE WATER WORLD
A Popular Treatise On the Broad, Broad Ocean. Its Laws; Its Phenomena; Its Products and Its Inhabitants; Graphically Describing Its Currents, Tides, Waves; Its Whirlpools, Water-Spouts Typhoons and Trade Winds; Its Coral Reefs, Pearls, Shells, Sponges, Fisheries; Its Animal Life, Minute and Mammoth, from the Butterflies of Sub-Marine Forests and Meadows, to Sharks, Whales, and Sea Dragons; with Chapters on Steamships, Lighthouses, Life-Saving Service &C., &C., &C.
Prof. J.W. Van Dervoort
Union Publishing House ("Sold Only by Subscription")1885. (Presume USA).
Blue-green cloth hardcover with gilt and black titles and decorations on cover and spine depicting a lighthouse, pearl divers (on spine), ships, and sea life; gilt-edged; 512 pages, size 6" x 8.5"
More than 70 black & white engravings (many full page). [ps]

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THE WORLD OF THE SEA
Translated and enlarged by The Rev. H. Martyn Hart, MA., from "Le Monde de la Mer," by Mons. Moquin Tandon.
Published by Cassell, Petter and Galpin, London. No date, but my copy had the handwritten date 1869 next to Hart's name and 1860 next to that of Tandon.
Hardcover, small gold embossed image on font board, 460 pages, supern woodcuts throughout, one colour plate, and several full page plates which appear to be a different process of printing, giving the look of a printed negative.
Fifty chapters cover all the main groups of marine life including the mammals and land animals.Very well illustrated throughout. A delightful book.

THE YOUNG DIVER
Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge S.P.C.K - Claredon Press, London no date circa 1880.
Hard Cover, small green cloth hard cover with black print and design to cover and flower bouquet paste-on in center (the latter maybe by an owner).
The description I have of this book is that it is a novel. It may well be about a diver in the sense of an underwater standard dress diver, or perhaps a free diver. On the other hand, it could be about a bird.

TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST
A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea.
Richard Henry Dana.
Published by Ward, Lock and Co, London, New York, Melbourne. No date, but copy contains a handwritten date of presentation as 21-4-95, ie 1895.
Hardcover, printer board, 284 pages.
This would be a wonderful book to read completely, but the print is far too small to read without becoming tired; probably less than 9 point. The book is of value not only in its expression of life at sea, but also of the author's observation on land, of peoples and cultures so different from his own.
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UNDER THE WAVES
Subtitle: Diving in Deep Waters
R M Ballantyne

Published by: James Nisbitt & Co Ltd 21 Berners Street, London. First Published: 1876.
Hard Cover with 414 printed pages. Dimensions 18.7 cms tall by 12 cms wide
Contains 6 Engravings.
Written in 1876 by Ballantyne, (who also wrote Coral Island), this is believed to be the first adventure book written about diving for Children. It is a super story about the hero, Edger Berrinton and his diving friends, one of whom is called Rooney, another hero of the tale. The story has everything: love, shipwrecks, treasure hunting, travel and pirates in the South China Seas, even the British Royal Navy make an appearance and see that justice is served at one point. The book contains six beautiful diving engravings. Four of the diving prints are on separate pages within the book, there is a similar picture as a frontispiece and an illustrated title page showing a diving helmet with divers performing various tasks both on and around the helmet. In all a wonderful read once you get to grips with the Victorian English. [pt]
See The Oceans and its Wonders, above, for bibliograhical data. [pt]

VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS AND THE SHIPWRECK OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES CUTTER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF TWO YEARS RESIDENCE ON AN UNINHABITED ISLAND
Charles Medyett Goodridge, (one of the survivors).
Published by W.C. Featherstone, and sold by the Author, Exeter 1841, several editions. (1841 may be date of first or fourth edition).
Hardcover, 170 pages, illustrated with 3 full page plates, includes "Opinions of the Press" accompanied by subscriber list and with errata slip. One copy, a fourth edition, described as bound in 4.5 by 7.5 inch hard covers, gilt lettering on spine.
An early account of the Crozet Islands, where Goodridge, a native of Paignton in Devon, member of a sealing expedition was wrecked in 1821. Stranded on the Crozet Islands, a small uninhabited group lying between South Africa and Australia, Goodridge and his companions recorded a two-year stay on the islands. Written as a new Robinson Crusoe, where the survivors lived on sea-elephant seals, penguins and other sea birds, they were in the process of building a boat to escape, when they were rescued by an American ship 'Philo'. Immediately falling out with the captain, the party were left on St. Paul Island for three months before being picked up and taken to Tasmania. Goodridge's eight years there furnished him with material to later write his Statistical View of Van Diemen's Land.
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WONDERFUL ESCAPES! CONTAINING THE NARRATIVE OF THE SHIPWRECK ANTELOPE PACKET THE LOSS OF THE LADY HOBART PACKET, ON AN ISLAND OF ICE. THE SHIPWRECK OF THE HERCULES ON THE COAST OF AFRICA.
An Extraordinary Escape fro the Efects of a Storm, in a Journey over the Frozen Sea in North America.
Printed by Richard Grace, (London), 1822.
A delightful small book of about 2.5 x 6 inches, hardcover, leather bound, 180 pages, several primitive woodcuts.
'We had scarcely quitted the ship , when she gave a heavy lurch to port, and then went down head foremost'. No need to describe it further - the title tells it all.
(Title page shown at left).
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WRECK OF THE LONDON.
Published by Sampson, Low, Son and Marston, London, 1866.
Stiff board covers, 100 pages, mono sketches.
The London was an iron auxiliary 3-mast steamer, ship rigged, 1752/1272 tons, built on the Thames in 1864. She left Plymouth on her third voyage to Melbourne on 6 January 1866 carrying 263 passengers and crew, including six stowaways. On the third day out while crossing the Bay of Biscay in heavy seas the cargo shifted and her scuppers choked, forcing the vessel lower in the water where she was swept by tremendous seas. Water poured down the hatches extinguishing her fires and forcing the captain to turn about and return to Plymouth. In so doing he headed into the eye of a storm. On 12 January 1866, the London went down, stern first. As she sank, all those on deck were driven forward by the overpowering rush of air from below, her bows rose high till her keel was visible and then she was ‘swallowed up, for ever, in a whirlpool of confounding waters; two hundred and forty-four persons died, nineteen survived. There is no author accredited to the book but written and published within the year of her loss (I presume from the date on the title page), it must rank as a reasonably accurate account. From what I can gaather it is a rather rare book.
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WRECKED ON A REEF, OR TWENTY MONTHS AMONG THE AUCKLAND ISLES.
A True Story of Shipwreck, Adventure and Suffering.
Published in 1882 by T.Nelson and Sons, Edinburgh and New York.
Gold embossed hardcover, 350 pages, full page mono woodcuts.
Apparently translated 'from a French narrative of much interest, Les Naufrages des Auckland Isles' which records the adventures of a small company of shipwrecked seamen... the story is graphically related, but, apparently, without any attempt at exageration...' The vessel in question is the schooner Grafton in 1863.
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